Edwin s



(No Model.)

' E. S. MATTHEWS.

BLEVATUR.

Patented July '7, 1891.

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InVeIitor Attorney f UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. i

EDWIN S. MATTHEWS, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO` ASSIGrNORA OF ONE-HALF TIO JAMESL. HAVEN, OF SAME PLACE.l

,EL EVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 455,536, dated July 7,1891,

Application filed January 26, 13891. Serial No. 379,196. (No model.)

To all whom it may cncern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN S. MATTHEWS, of Cincinnati, Hamilton county,Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevators, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to elevators employed for freight and passengerpurposes, and relates to improvements in the safety devices intended toprevent the dropping of the car or cage in case of accident to thehoisting-ropes or apparatus.

, My improvements will be readily .understood from the following'description, taken inl connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure l isa front elevation of an elevatorcar exemplifying myimprovements, the lefthand jaw-block appearing in vertical section; Fig.2, a side elevation ofthe same, a portion of the'car only appearing;Fig. 3, a view of the head-beam in vertical longitudinal section, orwith the front plate removed,'this `view having also the right-handcounter-balancerope and its lever omitted; Fig. 4, a plan of thehead-beam5Fig. 5, a vertical transverse section of the head-beam on anenlarged scale, and Fig. G, a diagram illustrating what might be calledthe prime factors of the invention.

In the drawings, omitting for the present all consideration of Fig. 6, 1indicates the usual car or cage of the elevator; 2, the usual` verticalguide-timbers therefor; 3, the usual head-beam secured across the top ofEthe car` and having at each end jaws to engage the guides 2; 4, theusual jaw-blocks secured below the car, one at each side, and engagingthe guides; 5, safety-wedges, one seated in each jaw-block, these wedgesbeing normally out of contact with the guides but so disposed that ifthey shift upwardly in the j avv-blocks they will cause the jaw-blocksto pinch the guides with sufficient force to lock the carto the guideand preventits descent, or at least furnish sufficient brake-power toprevent descent at dangerous velocity; G, a lever pivoted in eachjaw-block; 7, a hoisting-rope attached at its lower end to the rear endof lever 6 and extending upward to the head-p beam,and thence over andunder idle-sheaves l in the head-beam, thence upward from the car atabout the center ofthe car, asis usual, and thence to go to thehoisting-motor, whatever it may be, passing generally over a sheave atthe top of the elevator-way, there being one of these hoisting-ropes 7for each side of the car; 8, a hoisting-rope having the samev -riousropes turn in changing their courses;

10, a pair of spindles j ournaled across the-headbeam, one toward eachend of the beam, these spindles crossing under thehorizontal portions ofthe ropes, these spindles being hereinafter denominated thesafetyspindlesg 11levers fast upon one end of each safety-spindle, theselevers having a beller-ank form with an'arm projecting sidewise to theneighborhood ofthe guides; 12, rods connecting these sidewiseprojectingarms with the wedges, whereby when the arms are raised the wedgesv willbe lifted into clamping position; I3, a connecting-rod pivoted to theVtwo levers 1l in such manner as to unify their motions and insure asimultaneous lifting of both wedges; 14, a slotted lever fast on each'safety-spindle and projecting upwardly, the slots ot' these leversstraddling the hoisting-ropes 7 and 8; 15, knobs or enlargements on thehoisting-ropes 7 and S outside of and near to or in contact'with thelevers 14, so that any inward `movement of these knobs will cause aninward Inovementof the levers and an'upward movement of the wedges; 16,a second lever loose on each safety-spindle and projecting up along-vside the slotted levers 14; 17, lugs projecting from the levers 1G tobehind `the levers 14, so that any inward movement ot levers 1G willproduce au inward movement ofA levers 14; 18, the usualcounterbalancing-rope coming down= as usual, from attachment to thecounterbalance-weight and turning under the central sheaves and thenfastened to levers'l,

as clearly seen at the left in Fig. 3, this rope and its lever 16 beingomitted from the righthand part of this figure, this counterbalanc- TOOing-rope being, like the hoisting-rope 7 or8, also in duplicate; 19, apair of toggle-bars connecting the two levers 16 and pivoted together atabout the center of the headbeam and capable at that central pivot ofrising and falling as the levers 16 move inward or outward, thesetoggle-bars occupying normally a position almost horizontal, so that theinward strainupon the levers 16 produces' but little rising tendency onthe part of the center of the toggle; 20, the pivot-pin which unitesthese toggle-bars; 21, a trigger-lever pivoted to the head-beam andhooking over pin 2O and holding the toggle down in normal position; 22,an ordinary centrifugal governor to be mounted and rotated in the mannerusual with elevators, the spindle of this governor being so disposedwith reference to the trigger-lever that if the lgovernor revolves atabnormal speed, the trigger -lever will be tripped and unhooked from thepin 20; 23, the usual tension-bolts tying the head-beam to theguide-blocks, and 211 the usual standing cable for rotating thegovernor.

It will of course be understood that six ropes centrally grouped pass upfrom the car, four of these ropes 7 and 8 being the hoisting-ropes,while two of them 18 are .the counterbalance-ropes. The hoisting-ropesand counterbalance-ropes are duplicated at each side for the usualpurpose-namely to increase the factor of safety. I may therefore for thepresent consider one set only of these ropes, namely, one each of 7, 8,and 18. f The two ropes 7 and 8, it will be understood, act virtually astwo independent strands of one rope. The lever 6, to which these tworopes are attached, divides the strain between them. The lever is notessential, as it is evident that if ropes 7 and 8were united below andwere bent under a pulley or bent under any substitute on which theunified rope might slip the effect of dividing the load between the tworopes would be the same as when the lever 6 is employed. Therefore wemust look upon ropes 7 and 8 as a single hoisting mel dium formed of twoelements with their share of the load properly apportioned between them.It will therefore be obvious that nnder normal operations knobs 15 willnever change their position. But now assume that we cut or break rope 7above the car. The strain previously on the pair will now come entirelyon rope 8and the foot of the ropes at lever 6 or whatever may unite theropes at this point will shift, rope 7 shifting downwardly and rope 8shifting upwardly. The knob on rope 8 will therefore be drawn inwardlywith a force rep resented by the strain previously borne by ropes 7 and8. This knob will therefore come in Contact with lever 14 and will liftits arm 11 and pull the appropriate wedge upward and clamp the car tothe guide, and simultaneously the wedge on the other side of the carwill have been similarly operated, connecting-rod 13 insuring that bothwedges act together.

Very little study l will makeit obvious that the wedges will be thusoperated upon the breaking of either of ropes 7 or either of ropes 8. Inother words, the breaking or excessive stretching of any one of thehoisting-ropes above the car will cause a setting of both wedges.

It will be observed that the pulling'of the wedges into action is doneby a knob on a hoisting-rope not broken. In other words,

tact-rope of the broken pair becomes the straining element to pull thewedges into ac` tion; but the intact hoisting-rope to do the work ofpulling the wedges must really be intact-*that is, it must reach upwardfrom the car and be under strain. Assume now thatthe four hoisting-ropes7 7 8 8 were all broken at once, it will at once be seen that no intacthoisting-rope remains to pull the wedges into action.

I carry the Lsafety scheine further than usual and provide for thesetting of the wedges if all the hoisting-ropes break at once, and evenif there is no breakage of any rope or any part of the apparatus, Iarrange that eX- cessive downward speed of the car shall cause thecounterbalance rope ori-ropes to set the wedges. The strain of thecounterbalanceropes 18 tends to pull lever 16 inwardly, and if theselevers could be pulled inwardly their lugs 17 would move levers 14 andset the wedges precisely as if the knobs on the hoistin g-rope shiftedinwardly; but'toggle-bars 19 when in normal'position will not permitlevers 16 to swinginwardly,thoselevers thus forming normally-fixedpoints of attachment for the counterbalance-ropes. The inward strain onlever 16 by the counterbalance-ropes is met by toggle-bars 19 in anearlystraight position, the toggle having a slight tendency to rise andpermit the levers to swing inwardly. Trigger 21, engaging the centraltoggle-pivot with its hook, keeps the toggle down, and the Yentiresystem connected with the counterbalance-ropes therefore forms a trapnormally set. Governor 22, operated as usual, has no effect on thetrigger at normal car speeds; but if the car moved at abnormal speed,giving to the governor an abnormally high rotation, then thegovernor-balls rise higher than usual and the governor-spindle unhooksthe trigger-lever. Thereupon the toggle is free to rise and lever 16 tobe pulled inwardly by the full power of oounterbalance-ropes, the

wedges becoming thereby set. Thus it will be seen that, independent ofany breakage,

abnormally high speed of car will set the wedges. It will be furtherseen that if all the hoisting-ropes break and the car moves at excessivespeed up or down the counterbalance ropes will set the wedges.

As the principle of my invention is not at all dependent on manypeculiarities of detail which have necessarily been described inconnection with its illustrated exempliiicatiomit has been thought wellto illustrate the primey factor of the system by means of the elethebreaking of a hoisting-rope the inv IOO IIO

mentary diagram seen in Fig. 6. Here it will be seen the wedge will belifted by the upward movement of either hoisting-rope knob l5 or by theupward movement of piece 1.7, to which the counterbalance-rope isattached; also that piece 17 is held in normal position by a trigger;also that the hoisting strain is divided between ropes 7 and S. Ifrope 7breaks, then the knob on rope S lifts the wedge. If rope 8 breaks, thenthe knob on rope 7 lifts the wedge. If the governor moves at excessivespeed, it trips the trigger and the counterbalance-rope lifts the wedge.If both hoistingropes7and 8 break,then high speed of governor ensuesmost likely, and if such be the case then the connterbalance-rope liftsthe wedge. An analysis of this diagram will also show that the action ofthe hoisting-rope insetting the Wedges is due to the fact that thestrain is divided between two ropes occupying a normal relationship toeach other, the changing of which relationship causes the intact-rope ofthepair to do the work of setting the wedges.

I claim as my inventionl. In an elevator, the combination, substantiallyas set forth, with a car, guides therefor,

and a safety-clamp to arrest the car, of two hoisting-ropes held innormal relationship to the car by the mutual strain on the ropes,projections connected with said ropes to pull the safety-clamp intoaction in case the ropes change their relationship to the car, aconnterbalance-rope in connection with the clamp and tending to pull. itinto action, a trigger resisting such tendency, and a governor to tripthe trigger in ease the car movesat excessive speed.

2. In an elevator, the combination, substantially as set forth, with acar, guides therefor, and a safety-clamp to arrest the motion of thecar, of a rope under strain by the weight of the car and in connectionwith the safety'- clamp and tending by its strain to pull the clamp intoaction, a trigger resisting such strain and preventing the rope frompulling the clamp into action, an'd a governor to trip the trigger whenVthe car moves at excessive speed.

3. In an elevator, the combination, substantially as set forth, with acar, guides therefor, and a safety-clamp to arrest the motion of thecar, of'a counterbalance-rope in' connection with said safety-clam p andtendin gby i ts strain to pull it into action, a trigger resisting suchstrain and preventing the rope from pulling the clamp into action, and agovernor to trip the trigger when the car moves at excessive speed. Y

4. In an elevator, the combination, substantially as set forth, with acar, guides therefor, and a Vsafety-clamp to arrest the motion of thecar, of two hoisting-ropes in connection With each other at the car andmovably attached to the car and held in a normal relationship to the carby the mutual strains on the two ropes, projections connected with theropes to pull the safety-clamp into action when the relationship betweencar and ropes, becomes abnormal, and connections to transmit the pullingstrain from said projections to the safety-clamp..

5. In an elevator, the combination, substantially as setv forth, with acar, guides therefor, a safety-clamp to arrest the car, and a doublerope engaging the car, of a spindle, a lever thereon to be moved toabnormal position by the strain of said rope as it shifts on the car,and a lever on the spindle communicating with the safety-clamp, wherebythe strain of the shifting-rope pulls the 'safety-clamp into action.

6. In an elevator, the combination, substan tially as set forth,with acar, guides therefor, a safety-'clamp at each side of the car, and adouble rope engaging the car, of a pair of safetyespindles, leversthereon communicating with the safety-clamps, a l'ever on 'one of saidspindles to be moved to abnormal po'- sition by the strain of said ropeas it shifts on the car, and a rod and levers connecting the twospindles to cause them to move in unison. Y

7. In an elevator, the combination, substantially as set forth, with acar, guides therefor, a safety-clamp to arrest the car, a hoistingrope,and a counterbalance-rope, of a safetyspindle, a lever thereoncommunicating with the safety-clamp, a lever on the spindle to be movedby the shifting of the hoisting-rope, and a lever on the spindle to bemoved by the shifting of the counterbalance-rope.

EDWIN s. MATTHEWS. Witnesses:

J. W. SEE, M. S. BELDEN.

-I OO

